Tom Martin
Background * Libertarian * Was candidate for US Senate in PA in 2006, but the signature requirement was way to high to obtain. * Candidate for PA Senate in 2006. Links * http://web.archive.org/web/20130530015330/http://members.aol.com/martin4senate/ * http://www.martin4senate.blogspot.com * www.martin4senate.org/ * Gas tax-plank-Martin * Democracy-plank-martin * Marriage-plank-Libertarians Platform * Wrote a Condensed Libertarian Platform. Works in Progress * Martin's Qs from Local Paper ISSUES (edited slightly) Ballot Access Ballot access, or more accurately, the lack of it for the common American citizen is my primary issue. Free and Fair Elections for Americans! We the people can not be free until ballot access is corrected. The incumbent parties control who may or may not run against them in the elections. Topics from Abortion to Xenophobia should be addressed, but seriously, other topics make only meaningless chatter until We the people get ballot access and can NOT be denied Free and Fair elections. In Pennsylvania, Republicans and Democrats only need 2,000 signatures to obtain state wide ballot access. In 2006, Libertarians, Consitution, Greens, Independents and any one else needs more than 67,070 signatures on nomination papers. That is more than 33 times as many signatures than the incumbents need. The Pennsylvania Constitutional says Free and equal elections (article I Section V). Career politicians regularly plunder the tax payers social security "trust fund" to pay for their elections. With a wide array of tools at their disposal, all paid for by We the People, the system is used and abused By the politicians, For the Politicians, and To the Politicians. From their Franking Letters, tax payer subsidized primaries, use of Election Boards and Courts to enforce discriminatory Laws purely designed to eliminate opponents. Hugely different ballot access signature requirements, direct tax payer subsidy into incumbent election coffers, exclusive debates and even arresting opposition candidates to keep them from participating in the debates must stop. American elections are not clean. If any citizen thinks our elections are okau, they need an education as to what is going on. "A just government respects the rights of all people equally and grants special favor to none" Politicians are like diapers and they both need frequent changing for the same reason. Links Media Martin promotes individual rights : By Mike Joseph, mjoseph at- centredaily.com http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/15897913.htm Tom Martin has a knack for strong but picturesque political talk that sometimes makes people laugh. The Huston Township Libertarian is running for the 34th state Senate District to draw attention to his most important issue, ballot access. Whenever he gets the opportunity, Martin, 48, points out to candidate forum audiences that the Democratic and Republican parties in Pennsylvania need only 2,000 signatures for their candidates to get on ballots for statewide offices, such as this year's U.S. Senate race. But candidates in the Libertarian, Constitution, Green and other minor parties this year needed more than 67,070 signatures. That number changes from year to year. It equals 2 percent of the vote of the most popular candidate in the most recent statewide election, which was Democrat Bob Casey's 3,353,489 votes for treasurer in 2004. Martin, 48, a former Penn State varsity swimmer and now a software engineer for the university, advocates the Libertarian platform of private-property rights and the reduction or elimination of government regulations. And he does it with colorful language. At a candidate debate at State College Area High School last week, Martin introduced 200 students to the concept of "none-ya." When he and Democratic rival Jon Eich were asked questions about immigration, privacy, the drinking age, marijuana laws and the minimum wage, Martin repeatedly began his reply with the expression, explaining the first time that "I think we need a bunch of none-ya laws -- none-ya business." By the time he'd begun his answer three or four times with "none-ya," he had the students replying for him. What were his thoughts on gay marriage? "None-ya," he said. "I do not want the health Nazis telling us how to run our life. This is socialism. This is social engineering." Martin called the minimum wage, which will increase in July 2008 from $5.15 to $7.15 an hour, a "poor and unskilled discrimination act" that artificially inflates the cost of hiring. "It violates the voluntary right to contract -- you're violating people's rights to choices when you do that," he said. "Don't discriminate against people who want to work -- that's what it does." On state-supported welfare programs, Martin said: "It's very easy to be a liberal with somebody else's money." In a remark about the July 7, 2005, legislation to increase lawmakers' salaries, some students gasped when Martin referred to state legislators and said that "term limits would help get rid of these arrogant swine who have been there too long." But he got perhaps the loudest applause of the hourlong, student-run forum when the question turned to whether the legal drinking age in Pennsylvania should be lowered. "None-ya," Martin said. "If you can die for this country, you ought to be able to drink in it." Martin Martin category: Martin, Tom